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I told a coworker that I was dismayed to learn that Mavis Beacon wasn't real. She had a good laugh at my expense. her: "Really??? You thought she was a real pe
by JohnBooty 5y ago
I told a coworker that I was dismayed to learn that Mavis Beacon wasn't real. She had a good laugh at my expense.
her: "Really??? You thought she was a real person? JOHN. Come on."
me: "I thought she was a real person, like Orville Redenbacher. I didn't know she was made up like Betty Crocker."
her: "WAIT, BETTY CROCKER WASN'T REAL??"
oh, the laughs
- interestica 5y agoThere's probably a list somewhere. Aunt Jemima? Uncle Ben? Colonel Sanders? Betty Crocker? The Quaker oats guy?
- Jtsummers 5y agoA couple lists from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Female_characters_in_advertising https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Female_characters_in_... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Male_characters_in_advertising https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Male_characters_in_ad... Unfortunately they mix the obviously fictional in with the less obviously fictional (like cartoon characters with more plausible characters).
- ZeroGravitas 5y agoWendy Thomas is real though.
- Jtsummers 5y agoI didn't make the list, just found it. Fortunately, it's Wikipedia so you can edit it if you want.
- asperous 5y agoIt says female/male characters in advertising; not necessarily fictional.
- lupire 5y agoThe name is real (and maybe the portrait is close enough) but the character in commercials isn't.
- kevin_thibedeau 5y agoHe was in the commercials.
- TigeriusKirk 5y agoThe one I was most surprised to learn was a real person was Chef Boyardee.
- slavik81 5y agoFrom Wikipedia: > After leaving his position as head chef at the Plaza Hotel in New York City, Boiardi opened a restaurant called Il Giardino d'Italia in 1924 at East 9th Street and Woodland Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio. The idea for Chef Boyardee came about when restaurant customers began asking Boiardi for his spaghetti sauce, which he began to distribute in milk bottles. Four years later, in 1928, Boiardi opened a factory and moved production to Milton, Pennsylvania, where he could grow his own tomatoes and mushrooms. He decided to name his product "Boy-Ar-Dee" to help Americans pronounce his name correctly. The first product to be sold was a "ready-to-heat spaghetti kit" in 1928. The kit included uncooked pasta, tomato sauce, and a container of pre-grated cheese. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chef_Boyardee https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chef_Boyardee
- saalweachter 5y agoThere was an Oscar, as in, winning an.
- madcaptenor 5y agoAnd there was a Tony, but there wasn't an Emmy or a Grammy.
- deutschew 5y agodamn i thought those were the founders
- lmkg 5y agoColonel Sanders was the real founder, although not a real Colonel.
- selimthegrim 5y agoOh boy wait until you hear about the Cream of Wheat guy
- namdnay 5y agoMr Kipling
- sbuttgereit 5y agoColonel Harland David Sanders (September 9, 1890 – December 16, 1980) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonel_Sanders https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonel_Sanders
- dehrmann 5y agoDave Thomas of Wendy's was also a Kentucky Colonel.
- rob74 5y agoPeter Norton?
- userbinator 5y agoHe's real. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Norton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Norton
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- seanmcdirmid 5y agoAnd then there is John McAfee who passed recently in a Spanish jail cell.
- fuzzer37 5y agoWas assassinated.
- IncRnd 5y agoI learned to roll up my sleeves from seeing Peter Norton's photos.
- hasmanean 5y agoI just assumed she was a software developer who decided to teach typing. Then I realized, she doesn’t have to code it herself…maybe she hired someone to program it for her. It never crossed my mind that she was not an entrepreneur until I read this comment.
- JohnBooty 5y agoYeah unlike a lot of other fictional characters, she was actually portrayed with photographs, unlike illustrations ala Betty Crocker, Uncle Ben, etc. I think a lot of people thought Mavis Beacon was a real person!
- WalterBright 5y agoBack in the 1980s, when my company Zortech was located in London, my partner set up a "Meet Walter Bright" with the tech press there. After all, my picture was on the Zortech ads and the compiler manual. When I arrived at the meet & greet, the journalists thought I was a model (!) hired to be a figurehead. I had to show them my passport to convince them that was my real name, and answer a bunch of tech questions to show I knew all about C++ and compilers. It was a very amusing experience for me, especially that some people thought I was handsome enough to be a model, LOL.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- mwattsun 5y agoWhen I first got internet in the 90's I became aware of an art collective that was fronted by a personality name "Netochka Nezvanova". I got the impression that this kind of thing was nothing new. Maybe your last name "Bright" and programming skills were such that they thought you had to be more than one person! https://anthology.rhizome.org/m9ndfukc-0-99 https://anthology.rhizome.org/m9ndfukc-0-99
- WalterBright 5y agoThey thought "Walter Bright" was a made up marketing name, like Mr. Goodwrench. P.S. I still have the green shirt!
- tomcam 5y agowhen I finish my next compiler I'm going to hire someone on Fiverr to steal--I mean, alter slightly--the George Brazil Plumbing guy (https://www.google.com/search?q=george+brazil+plumbing&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=george+brazil+plumbing&tbm=i...), put him on the website, and call him Walter Bright just to complete the circle
- tomcam 5y agoWhat a great story. Also how nice is it that at one time journalists could ask something smart enough to discern your knowledge of C++
- throw0101a 5y ago> me: "I thought she was a real person, like Orville Redenbacher. I didn't know she was made up like Betty Crocker." Ettore Boiardi, aka Chef Boyardee, was a real person as well: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ettore_Boiardi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ettore_Boiardi
- abrowne 5y agoI would not have guessed that! I like that he last lived in Parma, Ohio.